Lennox Fire Dedicates 9/11 Memorial Monument

The small community of Lennox is nearly 1,300 miles from New York City, but a piece of the World Trade Center stands as a memorial to the emergency responders who died on September 11, 2001.

"We will never forget them, now matter how long it goes down," Chaplain Frank McNeil said.

The new monument stands in front of the Lennox Fire Department, so local volunteers will always remember the sacrifice.

McNeil organized the memorial, after losing a close friend when the towers collapsed.

"He was killed on that day. He was in truck three. Through our Fire Chaplain Association, I knew Father Michael Judge, so for me it is a special monument remembering two of my friends who died on that day," McNeil said.

And while most Lennox Firefighters didn't know the 9/11 victims, they say they're all connected through the firefighters brotherhood.

"We lose one, we all feel the pain, the hurt for their family and the departments they're with," Harold Timmerman said.

The memorial contains a piece of steel recovered from the 32nd floor of the North Tower.

"It's an honor," Nicole Paetow said.

Paetow brought her children to see the dedication. And while the attacks happened 11 years ago this week, she says the wound is still fresh.

"It doesn't seem possible that it's been eleven years. It really doesn't," Paetow said. "It can bring you back in a heartbeat to that day, no matter where you are."

Local donations over the last several years paid for the Lennox memorial.